


Scrabble and Tea

by steviewho



Series: Bub Tales [3]
Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Silly, Unrequited Love, but actually requited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 03:34:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12497816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steviewho/pseuds/steviewho
Summary: Another lost chapter from my Bub stories. I cannot get enough of Bub!This is set about 6 months before the final chapter in "These are the days of Bub's life".Jareth pops in on his weekly visit to Bub, who is playing scrabble with Sir Didymus and Hoggle.We find out Bub has taken an active interest in Sarah's love life.





	Scrabble and Tea

“GHERKINS! Bub get one hundred eighties points!” Bub exclaimed excitedly jumping up and down on the chair. 

“Gherkins… my lady I am unfamiliar with this term. Is it a proper word?” Sir Didymus raised his large eyebrows and looked from the scrabble board to Sarah. 

“Of course it's a proper word! It's the leather thing Kingy wears!” Bub bounced on his toes. 

“Dost thou know what he speaks of?” the fox looked from Hoggle to Sarah. 

“What are you talking about Bub. What leather thing?” Sarah turned from the stove where she was preparing tea for the group. 

“You know the leather Gherkin!” he stood up and circled around his waist several times.Sarah tasted the metallic tint of magic in the air and knew that meant Jareth was here. She looked up and met his eyes as he leaned in the doorway. She blushed at the at look he was giving her. 

“You know! The thing King wears, Queenie thinks it makes him look se...mmpphh" he couldn't finish his sentence because Sarah had rushed over and put both her hands over his mouth. 

“It's called a jerkin Bub. What you're thinking of is a leather jerkin. The word you played is a type of pickle.” She laughed awkwardly and looked at Jareth who was giving her a smile and smouldering look that made her weak in the knees. Not at all the look she was expecting him to give her. She leaned down and put her finger in Bub’s face. “I told you not to read my diary. Stay out of my underwear drawer.” She whispered angrily at him. 

“Bub hasn't read it since Queenie told him not to last time.” He whispered back. 

“Well good sir Bub it appears you hast won again. I tip my hat to thee. You are a worthy advisory sir.” Didymus stood in his chair and bowed dramatically. 

“Yous just gonna stand there all day Rat?” Hoggle grumbled to Jareth over his shoulder. 

“Rat? I am your King. Like me or not.” He pushed off the doorframe and walked around the table to sit at the head of the table. Sarah brought the kettle to the table along with several mugs. 

“Nope, you are the Goblin King and I ain't no stinkin’ goblin!” Hoggle gave Jareth a challenging glare.

“How dare you, I gave you a home in my kingdom-" 

“You hired me out from under the nose of your pompous cousin cause he made you mad, then instead of letting me garden at the castle like you promised you gone and stuck me at the gate!”

“Hey! Bub Goblin and he Bub’s king! King not Rat and Bub gonna teach you a lesson!” the small goblin began rolling up his sleeves and climbing on the table in Hoogle’s direction. Sarah lifted him up by the back of his shirt and sat him back down. 

“Hey hey Hey! Enough everyone! This is ridiculous! You are all my friends and I care about all of you, can't you just put your differences aside and be nice! That was all years ago!” she wagged her finger in all of their faces. 

“Sir Hoggle. The king has been a good sovereign and thou knows it. Better to us then many of the Fae ever was.” Didymus put a calming paw on Hoogle’s arm. The dwarf sighed loudly. 

“Fine. You're right. I'm sorry your highness.” The last part with no little sarcasm. 

“I liked you better when you were a coward. Sarah, you're new home is quite nice. Small, but nice.” Jareth turned his attention to Sarah. She liked how he tried to hide the sneer as he looked around. She told him before, not everyone can live in a castle. She missed his comment that she could if she wanted it.

“Thank you. I think it's cozy, and it's mine and mine alone.” She smiled at him, thankful he changed the subject. She looked around proudly at her small place. She was so happy when she saved up enough money to get her own apartment. She loved her family but after living in the dorms (and politely asked to not come back) for a bit she wanted her own space, not to live with them again. 

“So Bub. Are you ready to come home?” Jareth leaned towards the goblin. Who shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly.

“Depends.” he said before taking a long loud slurp of his tea. 

“Depends on what?” the King chuckled and looked to Sarah. She had to look away, Jareth smiling or laughing genuinely was her weakness. 

“On if Lady ready to come home and be Queen.” he turned his head to Sarah, “Lady, you ready to come home?” he gave her a large toothy grin. 

“Bub, we’ve been over this. I AM home. This is my home.” she reached over and pet his head like he was a cat. 

“Yeah yeah. You always says that, but I means your REAL home.” 

“Bub, the fair maiden lives above ground with her friends and family here. She hath an entire life here.” Sir Didymus applied the same reasoning he has tried repeatedly for years. 

“No! Not true!” Bub shook his head. “Lady tells woman all the time now that school almost done she has nothing. All her friends are here at this table. She sees Toby-monster once a weeks and she can come back and sees him whenever she want. What else she need? Bub think it allll out!” Bub proudly pointed to the side of his head. 

“Love. She needs love. She needs to finda man to marry and have lots o’babies with.” Hoogle grumbled folding his small arms. 

“Will everyone stop talking about me like I’m not in the room. I will make up my mind about my life thank you very much.” Sarah stood up abruptly and took her mug to the sink to wash it out. 

“She has love in the under--mmpphh” Bub was cut off by Jareth covering his mouth this time. Bub looked up at him questioningly and the king shook his head not to continue on that track. Bub whispered something in Goblin and Jareth responded. Sarah knew a fair amount of Goblin, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. She turned around as Hoggle was joining in. Him she could almost hear. She made out “human” and “not a rat” from the angry dwarf. This got Bub angry again and Jareth put a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him.

“Gentlemen. The Lady Sarah is correct. She will determine the correct course of action when it comes to her life and where she belongs. None of us can do it for her.” Sir Didymus sat up straighter and scolded the table. 

“Thank you!” she threw her hands up in the air exasperated with the lot of them. “And Bub! You’re lucky Ludo isn’t here, if he saw you coming after Hoggle that way he would get very angry. What did he do last time you tried to attack Hoggle?” 

“He sats on me till Bub says sorry. But Hoggle keeps saying mean things ‘bout my kings!” 

“That is very kind of you to try to protect your King, but it is okay Bub. I am not worried about Hogshead over here. We have a long history. Please don’t feel you must jump to my defense every time he says something disrespectful.” Jareth tried to reassure him. 

“ITS HOGGLE!” Hoggle grumbled. 

“Bub, they like to pick on each other, that’s all. Just like you and Merlin. They say things to push each other’s buttons.” Sarah injected. “But they are going to stop doing that and get a long right? I want all the important men in my life to get along.” 

“I’ll try harder Sarah. Ims sorry.” Hoggle looked properly ashamed of himself. 

“I to am sorry. I will attempt to reign it in.” Jareth gave a sincere simile and a nod to her. 

“Thank you.” she sighed. 

“Where is the Rock-caller, isn’t he normally here?” Jareth asked. 

“He’s hibernating. He sleeps for 6 weeks during the coldest time in the Labyrinth. Did you know of all the 200 species in the Labyrinth only 2 hibernate?” 

“I actually did not know that, has Sir Didymus been tutoring you?” Jareth took a sip of tea to hide is delight at her taking such an active interest in his Kingdom. 

“Yes! He let me borrow some beautiful books! Let me grab them!” she got up from the table and went to her room to get the books. 

“Bub don’t get it. Why King not just tell Lady he love her, then she come home and be Queenie?” Bub scratched his head and pouted. 

“Because firstly she wouldn’t believe me. She thinks my offer was a ploy to win. Secondly I am trying to let her have some human life experiences. She will be more willing to come to the Underground with us if she doesn’t feel like she has missed out here. I waited hundreds years for her, what’s a few more?” 

“I still thinks she deserves better than you!” Hoggle spat the words at the king. 

“I promise you Hoggle, there is not a man on this Earth or any realm that would love and cherish her the way I do. It kills me to be apart from her. I would do anything for her, even step aside if she chose to spend her life with a human. She is forever burned on my heart and soul.” he said it with so much conviction everyone was silent for a moment. 

“Wow! Kingy should tell her that, she sure to believes him then!” Bub said after a moment nodding his head yes. 

“Tell her what?” Sarah asked as she came back in. 

“That I just offered Hoggle a promotion. Well the position owed to him for a long time.” 

“Oh? What’s that?” she raised a suspicious eyebrow when she sat the books down in front of him. She sat on the chair next to his left across from Bub. 

“Head gardener of the Queen’s garden. Right Hoggle?” 

“H-h-h-head Gardener? Thank you sire!” Hoggle’s blue eyes brightened. 

“Congratulations Hoggle!” Sarah reached over to hug him and kiss him on the cheek. He dove out of her embrace when he caught eyes with Jareth. 

“None of that now, I want head gardener, not looking to be Prince of the Land of Stench.” he chuckled, a little uncomfortable. He looked to Jareth, who gave him a rueful smile. Jareth reached over to examine the books she brought down. 

“These are wonderful books, Sir Didymus good choices. I have these same ones in my library. They use these ones to teach young royals about the kingdoms.” Jareth realized what he said and looked over at Sir Didymus. The sly old fox sent a wink he way, communicating that was the point. He must be secretly training her to come to the Labyrinth and be Queen. Jareth was glad to have the knight on his side. Sarah leaned over closer to Jareth to show him some of her favorite things from the book. Both relishing in the warmth and closeness of the other one. He slid his chair closer to her, so close their arms were touching. 

Sarah’s phone began ringing, but she didn’t move from her spot. She decided to ignore the call and let the machine pick it up. It was probably Karen reminding her about Sunday dinner anyway. She could smell Jareth. He had a scent completely his own, it was woodsy and crisp with a hint of magic. It reminded her of the smell the air gets right before a snowstorm. She could feel the blush creep across her face, so she let her hair fall to hide behind the curtain of it. He asked her something, she couldn’t figure out what though. She was too distracted by his proximity. He reached a gloved hand and brushed the hair behind her ear, he froze when he heard the voice on the machine. 

“Hey Sarah, its Jimmy. I had a blast with you last weekend. I was hoping we could schedule another date. Our third date…”, he gave an awkward chuckle,”Anyway, give me a call Babe and we can hang out. I know you have that weird rule about not hanging out Fridays, but if you get lonely later, I can come by and keep you company. Bye!” 

Jareth had dropped his hand when he heard the boy refer to their third date. He spent enough time in the human realm to know what the emphasis of a third date meant. He meant what he said about stepping aside if she wanted, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be jealous or like it. 

“Bub take care of that.” Bub grumbled and walked over to the machine and hit the delete button. 

“Bub! You can’t just delete my messages!” Sarah turned around in her chair to look at the goblin. 

“Jimmy sucks. Lady don’t want to be with Jimmy. Jimmy no love or cherish Lady. Jimmy wanna posses Lady’s body, wanna mate and leave. Lady need to stay away.” Bub crossed his arms at her and gave her his meanest look. “Bub’s job to protect Queen and Bub gonna do just that. Jimmy bad news.” 

“Well, I do believe it is time for us to leave. Come along sir Hoggle.” Didymus grabbed Hoggle’s hand and pulled him towards the mirror in the hallway. “Sire, it was good to see you again.” 

Jareth pulled his eyes away from the dreadful machine and his murderous thoughts. 

“Yes, it was good to see you. Hogshead. I expect to see you first thing in the morning. We have a lot of work to do to get the Queen’s Garden back into shape.” he dismissed them with a nod of the head and returned his attention to the argument brewing between Sarah and Bub.

“I never asked you to protect me! How often do you do this? How many guys have I thought didn’t call me back was you deleting their calls?” 

“I donts know!” he threw his little hands in the air. “Don’t matter! These guys not right for Queenie! Lady needs to be loved! Talk some senses into her Kingy!” 

“That’s not his business! How do you know they wouldn’t grow to love me, or I wouldn’t fall in love with them.” 

“B‘Cause you never happy and smiley when you come back from dates! You never act like you do when you sees your souls mate! Lady love someone else and she know it!” Bub stormed out of the kitchen. 

“Where are you going?” she shouted after him. 

“Bub going out! Gonna find a mud pit to lay in!” 

“Don’t drag mud onto the new floors when you get back!” she sat down, across from Jareth who was scowling at her. “What? Why are you upset?” 

“Bub is right. You should be with someone who loves you.” 

“How am I supposed to find love if I don’t go out and date?” 

“He said you love someone else, maybe stop denying yourself and just go to him.” he hoped it was him she secretly loved and he wasn’t pushing her to another man. 

“He doesn’t feel the same way, I know he doesn’t so I am trying to move on.” her shoulders sagged in defeat and she placed her head in her hands. She didn’t notice his shoulders sag as well as he came to the conclusion it couldn’t be him they were talking about. She had to know on some level how he felt, so clearly she couldn’t be talking about him. 

“Well he’s a fool and so are you.” he spat the words at her. 

“What are you jealous or something? Upset that you’re not the only guy in life? Don’t act like you’re so innocent, one thing I’ve learned about your world is how promiscuous you Fae are! Plus you’re getting your castle ready for a Queen so obviously something is going on with someone!” she stood and gathered the discarded mugs from the table and took them to the sink. She tossed them in and turned on the water on to try to buy some time to compose herself. It wouldn’t do any good to let him see her cry over him. His ego didn’t need a boost. 

“Yes we are a rather promiscuous bunch, but in your research you must have also found that when we mate we mate for life. Which considering our lifespan is a huge commitment. Once we find our soul mate, it is forever for us. We cannot go around shagging everything that walks. Once we lay our hearts out bare, we are gone forever, we are bound to the other person. I am not engaging in any sexual activities with anyone.” the rejection he felt by her was still too raw and painful to put more words to his feelings yet. He was going to have to prove to her that he loved her, she was filled with doubt of his affections. He stood and went to her. He slowly placed an arm around her waist and an arm her shoulders and hugged her to him. She leaned into him and rested the back of her head on his shoulder. Both stood silently for a moment cataloging the feeling of being pressed to the other. Sarah counted each point their bodies touched. 

“I am a jealous and petty creature. You have become one of my dearest friends, and someone I care deeply for, more deeply than anyone ever. You have turned my entire world upside down. These last four and half years have been the happiest of my long life. I am possessive over my time with you and worry that there will come a day that you will no longer need me. You are young and beautiful, you should go out and date and I shouldn’t make you feel bad for doing it. Please don’t pay attention to me, just because I am jealous doesn’t mean I don’t want you to be happy.” 

“Thank you for saying that. I think I will always need you though.” she was happy to hear he cared about her, but sad it appeared he didn’t want more than friendship with her. Why would he want a simple human, he was magical creature. He could do so many wonderous things, she was normal and boring. She turned in his embrace to face him, he never let go of his hold on her. She lifted her arms around his neck and looked into those strange eyes. He looked down at her the way he did in the crystal ballroom. She may just be his friend, and she would be content with that, mostly, but she was going to take this moment for herself and keep it forever. She mentally shrugged and decided she would take his advice just go for it. 

She tilted her head towards his and raised on her toes. She leaned in slowly to give him a chance to pull away, and touched her lips to his gently. She began to pull away but he tightened his grip on her, so leaned into the kiss again. She had kissed other men before, but none of them lit her body up the way this kiss did. It hovered somewhere between a peck and something deeper. Not overtly sexual, but much more intimate than a quick kiss goodbye. She finally pulled away from him, he gave her a smirk before releasing his hold on her body. She leaned against the counter, he may have let go but he didn’t move further away from her. 

“ I better go, before I stay and do something you would regret. Just so you know, I am only getting the Queen’s garden ready for when you finally decide to come back Queenie.” he leaned in again and kissed her cheek before popping out of the room magically. She stayed where she was relishing in the feeling of his lips still on her cheek and lips. She heard the front door open and close, and the slapping of Bubs bare feet on the tile. ‘

“See, Bubs stop deleting messages when Lady comes home from a dates with that look on her face!” 

“New house rule. Stay away from my answering machine.” she folded her arms and stared at him. 

“Fine! New new house rule. No more dates with dummies.” he folded his arms and stared at her. She turned and went to a drawer and pulled something out but hid it behind her back. 

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. I know you were only trying to help. Thank you Bub.” she kneeled down so they more level and pulled a stick out from behind her back and handed it to him. He gave her a big grin and took the stick from her. He jumped up and kissed her cheek before running off.


End file.
